Citizenship education is too important to be left to chance
Citizens in a democratic society have a fundamental responsibility to engage in public life. Educators and learners have an obligation to promote equality, justice, respect for others and democratic participation.
These ideals should be integral to cultures of educational institutions and embedded within and beyond the curriculum in schools.
Education for democratic citizenship is a core purpose of teaching and learning in schools, and indeed of teaching as a profession. Since its introduction as a statutory area of study for learners between the ages of 11 and 16 and its non-statutory inclusion in the primary curriculum, citizenship education has enabled pupils to learn about the nature of citizenship in contemporary Britain. This has, amongst other things, contained pupils learning about rights, the legal system, parliamentary democracy, and the diverse and global nature of life today.
Connected to this, and of equal significance within citizenship education, is learners’ investigation and enquiry into ethical, topical and, at times, controversial matters. As the hugely influential Report of the Advisory Group on Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools (The Crick Report [pdf]) made evident, citizenship education aims at active citizenship by proving learners with the chance to take element, in responsible approaches, in active and participatory learning experiences.
The education of specialist educators of citizenship education, through a variety of routes covering PGCE, GRTP and Teach Initial, has been of crucial significance in the development and growing success of citizenship education in schools. Specialist citizenship educators possess distinctive awareness, abilities and dispositions, and they have a strong sense of the specific potential and significance of their work. Numerous official policy reports, covering those from OfSTED and the NFER, have stated and reiterated the crucial function that specialist citizenship educators play in raising the quality and consistency of citizenship education in schools. Citizenship specialists are more than simply effective educators – they lead area of study co-ordination and support the professional development of colleagues.
Much like citizenship education in schools, the process and quality of citizenship educator education in England has received a great deal of praise and attention internationally, notably from Japan, Australia and Canada. The existence of citizenship education as a specialist route for educator education has additionally opened up the teaching profession to a range of individuals with degree backgrounds in subjects related to politics, law and economics whom previously may have found it difficult to enter the profession. Without specialist educators of citizenship education, the ability of schools to play their element in producing and educating knowledgeable and responsible citizens will be seriously undermined.
If citizenship education is either to be removed, or is to lose its statutory force, a generation of younger people will (or at least may) be deprived of an chance to formally learn about, investigate, and actively participate in, the political and social communities within which they live. This aspect of schooling is too significant to be left to chance.
It’s, for this reason, beholden on government to legislate to ensure that children are educated about citizenship, through citizenship and, most importantly, for citizenship. For further guidance, see the relevant UK information.
Dr Andrew Peterson,
Canterbury Christ Church University
